Primm seeks gag order in rape victim suit

Grace Leong

Thursday, March 9, 2000 | 10:41 a.m.

Former casino executive Gary E. Primm and the Gary E. Primm Family Trust are seeking a gag order and the sealing of court papers in a civil case over allegations that Primm abandoned an employee in Mexico and failed to pay her after she was raped.

A Florida woman, who was working as a chef on Primm's M/V Primadonna yacht, filed a federal lawsuit against Primm in July under the pseudonym Jane Doe. The suit alleges that in February 1999 she was abducted near the yacht while in port at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and was driven by three unknown assailants to a remote desert location, where she was beaten and raped at knifepoint.

Noel Gage, the plaintiff's attorney, said the assailants are still at large. He said a judge has not ruled on the gag order motion.

The defendants denied responsibility for the woman's injuries because she was allegedly raped after she had gone from bar to bar drinking and after she had refused requests by her fellow shipmates to return to the vessel.

Primm and the family trust said they weren't responsible for paying the plaintiff's wages because she quit her employment the morning after her rape.

The plaintiff, however, said she was fired by the defendants in retaliation for her decision to hire a lawyer and assert claims against Primm. The plaintiff accused Primm of "callous conduct" for refusing to pay her psychotherapy and medical expenses, under-paying her living expenses and failing to pay her wages.

The defendants disagreed, saying they continued to pay for her maintenance and medical claims even though they were allegedly unable to ascertain whether the plaintiff's injuries were caused by the alleged assault or by some other pre-existing condition.

The plaintiff said she was abandoned at an airport in Mexico in late February without money and assistance, medical care or treatment after Primadonna cancelled her airline ticket for her return to the United States for medical treatment and HIV tests shortly after the assault.

The defendants said Primadonna cancelled her airline ticket because she didn't return to the vessel to work.

Gary E. Primm was the chairman and chief executive of Primadonna Resorts Inc. until it was sold to MGM Grand Inc. last year. Primadonna owned three hotel-casinos at a complex in Primm at the California-Nevada border on I-15, as well as a 50 percent stake in the New York-New York hotel on the Las Vegas strip.

Accusing the plaintiff and her counsel of launching "unwarranted" and "vicious tirades and accusations" that are "damaging to Primm's personal reputation and emotional welfare," the defendants are now seeking an order to seal all future court filings and to restrict the plaintiff and her counsel from speaking to the press.